The Importance of VET teacher professionalism : an Australian case study

The effectiveness of vocational education and training (VET) systems depends upon their teachers. The teachers are regarded as “dual professionals,” requiring expertise in both their background industry areas and in VET pedagogy itself. This chapter uses Australia as a case study of what happens when the accepted regime of qualifications for VET teachers alters. In Australia full-time VET teachers were, until recently, required to undertake degree level qualifications in VET pedagogy, taught at universities, either before or, more usually, after entering the occupation. The required level has now reduced to the regulatory minimum of a Certificate IV level qualification, taught by training providers not universities, and often provided to their own teachers. The qualification contains only 300 nominal hours of training. It has been recognized as a particularly poorly taught qualification, requiring the introduction of a high degree of regulation and most recently a special compliance framework for training providers wishing to deliver it. In this chapter, the historical path of the decline in VET teacher professionalism in Australia is charted, including research evidence from a national project managed by the author, about the effects of higher-level qualifications on VET teacher practices and quality and teachers’ propensity to engage in professional development. A conceptual model of the attributes of professional VET teachers with regard to qualifications and professional development is presented. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for change and implications for other countries

Conceptualising teacher Professionalism

Recently, Sachs (Teacher professionalism: why are we still talking about it? 22(4):413–425, 2016) posed the question, “why are we still talking about teacher professionalism?” Despite a long history of political and educational discourses about the professionalising of teaching, there remains little clarity about the meaning and intent of terms such as profession, professionalism and professionalisation in the context of teaching. Debates abound in relation to the influence of these discourses on the professionalising, deprofessionalising and reprofessionalising of teachers. Significant to the issues raised is the role and function of teacher education in the professional learning and development of teachers and the promotion of the teaching profession. This chapter explores core issues surrounding professionalism and teacher education with an emphasis on the Australian context. It will: (i) analyse definitions of the concepts of profession and professionalism and their application to teachers and teaching; (ii) outline core contestations in the spaces between political and educational discourses in contemporary contexts; and (iii) discuss emerging perspectives in teacher education for innovating policy and practice in support of the ongoing maturation of the teaching profession